Barrel-truck.



No. 877,287. PATENTBD JAN. 21, 1908. M. BIXEL.

BARREL TRUCK.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 24, 1907.

W1 T/VESSES ATTORNEYS MENNO BIXEL, or PANDORA, OHIO.

' BARREL-TRUCK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 21, 1908.

A li ati filed June 24. 1907- Serial No. 380.527.

To all whom it may concern:

' Be it known that I, MENNo BIXEL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Pandora, in the county of Putnam and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Barrel-Truck, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has reference to improvements in barrel trucks, and its object is to provide a truck particularly intended for use with barrels normally located under store counters or other shelf-like covers, and which barrel must be moved out from under the counter or shelf to a suflic-ient extent each time it is desirable to gain access to its contents.

Oftentimes in stores barrels of sugar or similar commodities are placed under the counter and must be worked out from such position whenever it is desirable to reach the contents. This is a tedious and unsatisfactory operation, with the result that the barrels are often left partially withdrawn from under the counter and instead of being protected by the counter shelf become receptacles for dirt or refuse which may be swept into them from the counter.

The present invention comprises a means whereby a barrel of, say, sugar may be supported in such manner as to be easily moved from place'to place, while at the same time it is free to be tipped to a suflicient extent so that its edge will come beyond the counter shelf when the barrel is placed under the counter, and thus access may be gained to the interior of the barrel. In accordance with the present invention such means takes the form of a truck of suflicient lateral spread to receive the bottom of a barrel between the side wheels, which wheels, together with the third or caster wheel or wheels, are so located that when the barrel is in place the center of gravity will be within the area embraced in a triangle including the truck wheels and the caster.

The invention will be fully understood from the following detailed description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification,

in which,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the improved truck; and Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same, with parts shown in section.

Since the truck is designed to support sugar barrels and to permit the barrel so mounted to be moved under the counter, and since the height of a barrel and of a counter shelf, as usually made, are so related the axle 1 is an ovoidal frame 5 having one end 6 approximately semi-circular and having the sides continued nearly straight but approaching each other until they form a junction at the other end, as shown at 7, which junction is expanded and receives the anti-friction bearing head 8 of a caster 9 which may be of a double roller type or of the single roller type, as preferred. Projecting upward from the expanded portion 7 are a number of spaced studs 10. At the other end of the frame 5, t.., on the portion 6 thereof, is an upturned flange 11, to be hereinafter referred to. The frame 5 is connected to the axle 1 by rivets 12 or otherwise on the shorter diameter of the frame, closer to the flange 6 than to the expanded portion 7.

Now, let it be assumed that a barrel 13, indicated in broken lines in Fig. 2, is placed upon the truck. This is performed by tilting the barrel and pushing the truck thereunder until the flange 11 comes against the inner face of the chimes of the barrel, while the diametrically opposite portion of the barrel chimes will seat themselves in the space between the studs 10, as indicated. Under these conditions the flange 11 will project upward toward the bottom of the barrel, while the barrel itself will rest upon the axle 1 near the wheels 3 and upon the portion 7 above the caster 9. When the barrel is so located upon the truck the axle 1 is to one side of the center of the barrel, so that the center of gravity of the barrel is between the plane of the truck wheels 3 and the caster 9.

In a structure for practical use the wheels 3 need not be more than three or three and one-half inches in diameter, and, consequently, the barrel will be elevated less than two inches and hence may be wheeled under a counter and still leave sufficient clearance for the necessary operations to gain access to the interior of the barrel. In wheelin the barrel under the counter the caster 9 wil be in advance so as to move to the greatest extent under the counter. Now, if the clearance between the top of the barrel and the counter shelf is suflicient, the barrel may be simply tilted, which operation is easily performed since while the center of gravity is between the axle l and the caster 9 still, it is so close to the axle 1 that but little force is necessary to cause the barrel to tilt about the axis of the axle and thus bring its upper end to a sufficient distance beyond the edge of the counter shelf to permit access to the barrel, so that its contents may be removed by a scoop or otherwise. If, however, the counter-shelf is too low for such a purpose, then the barrel is easily pulled out from under the counter to a suflicient extent to permit access to its interior, and may be as readily pushed back under the counter. In

. moving the barrel out with the truck as a vehicle the studs 10 prevent the barrel from being pulled from the truck. This is more particularly true of those studs nearer to the axle 1, while the other stud and the flange 11 prevent the barrel from being moved longitudinally on the truck when the whole structure is being propelled from place to place with the caster wheel 9 in advance.

I claim 1. A barrel truck comprising a frame provided at one end with a flange arranged to engage the interior of the chimes of a barrel,

and provided at the end remote from the flange with studs arranged to engage inside the chimes of the barrel at a point diametric ally opposite from that engaged by the flange, and supporting wheels for the frame removed from each other to an extent greater than one-half the diameter of the barrelhead but less than the length of the frame.

2. A barrel truck comprising a frame of approximately the same length as, but of less width than, the diameter of a barrel-head, a caster supporting one end of the frame, and an axle and truck wheels extending laterally across the frame at a distance removed from the caster greater than one-half the diameter of the barrel, said axle being longer than the distance across the barrel at the point traversed by the said axle to receive the chimes of the barrel.

8. A barrel truck comprising a frame having at one end an upwardly extending flange and at the other upwardly extending spaced lugs, said flange and lugs being separated by a distance approximately the same as the diametric distance between the chimes of the barrel to be carried by the truck, a caster connected to and supporting the end of the frame carried by the lugs, an axle fast on the frame and extending across the same at right angles to the length of the frame at a point between the lugs and flange but removed from said lugs by a distance greater than one-half the diameter of the barrel, said axle being longer than the diameter of the barrel at the point traversed by the axle, and truck wheels carried at the ends of said axle.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto aflixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

MENNO BIXEL.

Witnesses:

J. A. SAUNDERS, M. E. KROHN. 

